Cheese flavored popped popcorn



Patented Nov. 19, 1940 UNITED I "STATES? PA-TENT OFFICE 7 2,222,500 cnsnsa mvoann rorrnn rorooau Forest H. Clickner, Chicago, 111-, allllnor to'Kraft A Cheese Company, a corporation of Delaware l lo Drawing. Application February 13,1935,

S QIHI'NO. 8,387

6 Claims. (MOS-+134) So far as I am awaremo one before me pro- \duced a popped popcorn or similar farinaceous product coated with sumcient cheese to flavor thesame in such a way as to make it commercially feasible. The production of such a product presents varioustechnical diillculties. Thus, to

tmake a cheese-coated popcorn that can'be sold tractv from its edibility, and the cheese must have melted and applied to popped popcorn, I found that such melted cheese had a high viscosity and coated the popcorn excessively, making the taste undesirable. If less cheese were used, the popcorn could not be coated uniformly. Aside from sthis, I found that since these available types of cheese contain around 40 per centmoisture, the

crisp popcorn soon absorbed much of the mois-' ture and became soggy and inedible. Another reason why I found this type of cheese impracticable is that it would go'rancid at ordinary temperatures in a short time. I also found that such a type of cheese, because of its high viscosity. and

its tendency to string and .011, made itimpossible to coat the popcorn in an economical way to produce'cheese-coated popcom-on a commercial An object of my invention, therefore, is to combine cheese with popped popcorn in such a manner that a relatively small quantity of cheese is sumcient to produce a desired cheese flavor in the popcorn, without changing the essentially farinaceous character of the popcorn and-without raising the price substantially above that of ordinary buttered popcorn. v A further object is to apply the coating to the popcorn in such a manner that it will adhere tenaciously' and penetrate the starchy substance, so as'to form a permanent combination therewith.

Still anoth'er object is ,to provide a cheesecoated popcomiood which will be dry and crisp and .willremain so, and which will also be stable against 'rancidiiication and other spoilage for.

.specialanhydrous cheese powder, although othlong periods of time, and which will other difiiculties outlined above. J

I I have found that these and other objects, which will become apparent as the description proceeds, may be achieved by combining cheese with an edible fat and applying this mixture to the popcorn, preferably by spraying the same while in a thinly fluid condition. 1

In accordance with a preferred embodiment of my invention, I use as'the cheese ingredient a avoid the g er types of dry cheese may'be used. The dry cheese may. be made in various ways, as, for example, by dividing the cheese into small. pieces andplacing it in a drying oven or tunnelat a moderate temperature. It may also be produced. according to the method described in my (xi-- pending application Serial No. 725,346, filed May 12, 1934. This method is substantially as follows: I 7 7 go Make up a blend of good aged American cheese, preferably low in moisture; Comminute the mix and heat to a temperature of about F., preferably-with direct saturated steam. Sumcient water should be added to bring the 'mois-' 25 ture content up to about'lO per cent, preferably together with .suiilcient citric or other acid so that the end product has a pH value of about 5.0. Instead of using water and citric .acid or other acid, as described, there is a material advantage 0 in employing anacid-whey solution, or an acid milk (whole or skim) may be employed. Also, in place of using citric acid, other acids such as malic acid may be used.- However, I prefer to use as'the acid source, whey which has been permitted to develop its acid naturally.

During and subsequent to the heating, and afterthe addition of the acid solution, the mixture is vigorously agitated so as to obtain as uniform a mixture as possible. It; is then preferably 40 homogenized and, before cooling, conducted; by some suitable form of forced feed apparatus directly to the spray heads of a spray drying equipment such as is used for the desiccation ofmilk.

The end product will be a powder containing 45 about 0.8 per cent of moisture and the acidity should be about pH 5.0,sumcient acid or-acid whey having been added, if necessary, to produce this acidity in the end product.

The cheese powder produced .as above is admixed with a fatty material in a manner which will now be described:

The fats which I have found especially suitable in connection with my'invention' are anhy drous ones, such as refined cocoanut-oil and- 1- so I described drogenated cocoanut, cottonseed, sesame or corn oil. Numerous other edible fats which aresolid at room temperature will suggest themselves, although, of course, market conditions will be an important factor in determining the choice of fats. The fat used for my purpose should have,

in addition to the factors mentioned above, high stability against rancidification. For the cheese ingredient I prefer to use a dried, snappy, aged American cheese of good quality, preferably prepared in dry, powdered form, as described above.

As to proportions, in a preferred embodiment.

I may use per cent ofcheese and about 65 per cent of fat. However, these proportions may vary within wide limits and I may use as low as 15 per cent of cheese or as much as 50 per cent. I

My preferred method of combining the cheese and fat is asfollows: 4

The fatty ingredient is heated, as in a steam jacketed or hot water jacketed kettle, to about 150 F; The cheese ingredient is then introduced gradually with stirring, care being taken that all lumps are thoroughly broken up. The cheese goes into suspension freely and the agitation is continued until a uniform suspension is obtained. The temperature may then be reduced to about 140 F.

The material is then drawn off and is preferably strained to remove any large particles of" cheese, the agitation being continued. The material is preferably run into a device where it can be whipped while bemg quickly cooled to a congeallng temperature, such as an ice cream freezer. without refrigeration, until it has congealed by 1 giving off its heat to the atmosphere, it is found that the most practical and expedient procedure is the ice cream freezer technique, referred to above. 40 there may. be some tendency for the cheese and It will be understood, of course, that fat ingredients to separate during the cooling stage if the whipping is not continued. After congealing, the product maybe placed in cans or other suitable containers and disposed in a cooler over night to complete the setting of the material.

It is highly desirable that contact of the ingredients with moisture be avoided throughout the entire process, and care should be taken that all containers, utensils andapparatus be entirely dry.

The composition prepared as described above consists of cheese in a finely divided form, substantially each particle of cheese being thoroughly coated with a film of fat. The cheese ingredient preferably contains not'more than about 3 per cent of moisture, although this quantity may be less than one per cent if the cheese is prepared by the method described above. It should be understood, however, that a product 50 may be made which is satisfactory under some 7 able manner.

In this way there may be applied to popcorn or similar farinaceous material a thin coating of cheese in a fat carrier as described above, where- While, of course, it may be whipped aeasgsco by the popcorn or the like will have imparted thereto a pleasing cheese flavor at a minimum cost without appreciably modifying the well known and characteristic farinaceous' qualities of the popcorn, such as its crispness, etc.

Such a material closely adheres to the surface of the cereal and to a certainextent penetrates into the starchy material so as to form a permanent combination therewith. My improved product has exceptionally high keeping qualities for goods of this character and said qualities are considerably enhanced when substantially anhydrous cheese and fat are used.

Various modifications coming within the spirit of my invention will readily suggest themselves to those skilled in the art, and, hence, I do not wish to be restricted to the specific embodiments or details set forth herein, but intend that the scope of my invention shall be limited only by the appended claims, which should be interpreted as broadly as the state of the art will permit.

While I have specifically mentioned. popcorn above, it will be obvious that various similar farinaceous materials may be used in lieu thereof, such as the so-called "puffed cereals," as made,

for example, by the well-known Anderson processes.

I claim as myinvention: I

l. A combination of the class described, comprising a popped popcorn having a relatively thin and closely adherent coating of cheese in a carrier of fat, said cheese and fat being substantially anhydrous.

2.- A composition of the class described, comprising a popped popcorn having a relatively thin and closely adherent coating of finely divided cheese having a moisture content ofnot more than about 3 per cent in arcarrier of a dry, edible 3. The improvement in the art of imparting a cheese flavor to popped popcorn which comprises incorporating comminuted cheese of a low moisture content in a body of substantially dry edible fat, liquefying the mixture bythe application of heat, whereby the cheese is uniformly distributed in said fat, and then spraying portions of the surface of the popcorn with the heated fluid material.

4. The improvement in the, art of imparting a cheese flavor to popped popcorn, which comprises incorporating comminuted cheese in a body of edible fat, said cheese and fat being substantially dry, liquefying the mixture by the application of heat, whereby the cheese is uniformly distributed in said fat, and then coating portions of the surface of the popcorn withthe heated fluid material.

5. A cheese-flavored food comprising popped popcorn provided with a relatively thin and closely adherent coating comprising dried comminuted cheese of a lowmoisture content in a carrier of edible oil, said oil being substantially free from moisture.

6. The method of coating popped corn with a cheese mixture which includes the steps of spraymg a liquid cheese mixture containing dehydrated cheese and a dehydrated edible oil ontograins of freshly popped corn while agitating and shifting the positions of such'grains to bring the surfaces of substantially all the grainsinto contact with the spray of the cheese mixture.

' FOREST H. CLICKNER. 

